Cheryl+Vosseler


 * SUMMARY: Cheryl Vosseler, age 17, died on August 16, 1969 of complications of a legal abortion performed at Fresno General Hospital in Fresno, CA.**

Cheryl L. Vosseler, an Iowa native, was 17 years old when she was admitted to Fresno General Hospital on July 31, 1969, to undergo a legal abortion. California allowed abortions to be performed in hospitals at that time.

After she was discharged, Cheryl suffered from complications, and was readmitted two weeks later. Surgery was performed August 14, 1969, to try to save her life. Cheryl's condition continued to deteriorate. She finally died August 16, 1969.

During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more [|here].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion]

Sources: California Certificate of Death, 69-124954; Coroner’s Inquisition 21728; Fresno County Superior Court, No. 146000, Vosseler v. Black and Red Corporation, et al.

include component="tagCloud"